Cylinder and dial knitting machine



July- 22, 1969 L. MISHCON CYLINDER AND DIAL KNITTING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 11, 1967 INVENTOR. Lester Mishcon BY M 6'1 ATTORNEY July 22, 1969 I L. MISHCON 3,456,460

CYLINDER ANDHDIAL KNITTING MACHINE Filed April 11, 1967 s Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 20 Lester Mishcon y 1969 L. MISHCON 3,456,460

CYLINDER AND DIAL KNITTING MACHINE Filed April 11, 1967 s Sheets-Sheet s INVENTOR. Lester Mishcon Wm BY ,4m ATTORNEY United States Patent ice US. Cl. 66-20 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Cylinder and dial apparatus for an independent needle knitting machine are described as having their relative timing unaffected by the settings of the cams of the cylinder and dial cam sections, and which cam sections permit of a fourth selectable transient needle position, viz. one wherein the cylinder and dial needles are arranged to pass each other on a hook-to-hook basis. To provide the fixed relative timing feature, use is made of stitch cams which are positionable for stitch length purposes, in both the cylinder and dial sections, in directions parallel to their respective cam surfaces. To provide selectable hook-to-hook needle positioning, use is made of a shiftable auxiliary raise cam that serves to raise the cylinder needles to a position between welt and tuck levels. Like the stitch cams, the raise cams of both the cylinder and dial sections are positionable, for knit, tuck and welt needle positions, indirections parallel to their respective cam surfaces, whereby hook-to-hook needle passing is facilitated, and whereby such needle passing not disturbed by adjustment of the raise cams.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention The present invention relates in general to a cylinder and dial independent needle knitting machine and in particular to the camming thereof. In its presently preferred form, the invention is embodied in a non-jacquard, varied needle, plural raceway interlock machine and, by virtue of cam sections thereof embodying the invention, the versatility and utility of such machine is maximized both in the area of machine timing and in the area of needle positioning.

Reference to the prior art In a cylinder and dial knitting machine, it is usually desirable to set stitches, by means of the cylinder needles, several needles apart from the stitches set by means of the dial needles, whereby thin high quality cloth will ensue by virtue of one set of needles robbing yarn from the stitches adjacently formed by the other set of needles. Prior cylinder and dial knitting machines equipped with adjustable stitch draw cams intrinsically required that their timing be adjusted as desired each time such stitch draw earns were set to accommodate a new stitch length, this being because either or both the cylinder and dial stitch cams were not adjustable as indicated according to the invention.

With regard to hook-to-hook needle passing, the need for this feature is best appreciated by way of a couple of examples as follows:

(a) In interlock machines, the cylinder and dial needles are so disposed with respect to each other that corresponding needles of the cylinder and dial operate in the same plane, i.e. the cylinder and dial are so gated that their needle slots are radially aligned. To knit rib cloth with an interlock machine, the same cylinder and dial needles may be successfully actuated at successive yarn feed stations (i.e. half of the cylinder needles, and half of the dial needles, with this technique, never knit), where- 3,456,460 Patented July 22, 1969 as in knitting interlock cloth, those successive cylinder and dial needles which knit at a given feed station do not knit at, say, the next subsequent feed station, etc., and instead the non-knitting needles at the given station knit at the subsequent station. To knit rib cloth with double the fineness possible by knitting with only half the machine needles, the machine gating is adjusted so that the cylinder and dial needles operate in alternate vertical planes, i.e. the cylinder and dial are so gated that their respective slots do not align. A problem arises however when the gating of a fine gauge, say 18 cut, interlock machine is adjusted for rib knitting: Since the machine timing is ordinarily such that one set of needles will be extended while the other is being raised to take yarn, the raising needles may collide with the extended needles unless of course the gating is precisely adjusted for every needle, and that the needles themselves are sufliciently thin to provide relative passage. By having hook-to-hook needle passing, use is made of the fact that the needles are thinnest at their respective points, and therefore the chance of a needle collision is minimal.

(b) When knitting, say, with elastic-type yarns, and without hook-to-hook needle passing, the casting off of needle loops is oftentimes difficult because the loops do not loosely hang on the needles but instead hold tightly to the needles by virtue of their elasticity. With the hook-tohook needle passing, the needles of one bed act like sinkers for the opposing bed of needles, and vice versa, whereby they serve to strip even tightly held loops off the needles.

As abovenoted, it is a feature of the invention to provide a versatile knitting machine. To this end, the cylinder and dial raise cams are both positionable parallel to their respective cam surfaces for knit, tuck and welt needle positioning, for to do otherwise could complicate a hookto-hook needle passing that is selectable irrespective of the settings of the raise cams themselves. In other words, the cylinder and/or dial raise cams, with apparatus according to the invention, may be set to knit or tuck or welt levels, and depending on the selected position of the abovementioned auxiliary raise cam, the needles will pass hook-to-hook, or not. The importance of this feature can be appreciated by considering for example a prior art four posltion swing-type raise cam in either, or both, the cylinder and dial, the selectable positions being knit, tuck, hook-to-hook and welt. Clearly, with such a raise cam arrangement welting, tucking and knitting all intrinsically preclude hook-to-hook needle passing, which here is only available when the raise cam is so set for hook-to-hook needle passing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION A cylinder and dial knitting machine is provided wherein the raising and lowering of both the cylinder and dial needles are always along lines the projections of which form angles which are invariant as a result of adjusting the raise and stitch cam settings. Cooperating with the raise cams of the cylinder (although such a feature could just as seaily be effected in cooperation with dial raise cams, or with both cylinder and dial raise cams) are auxiliary raise cams that are adjustable from positions where the cylinder needles are not influenced thereby to a position where the needles are raised to a hook-tohook level prior to contacting their raise cams.

As abovenoted, the parallel positioning of the cylinder and dial stitch cams permits of constant machine timing irrespective of how the stitch cams thereof are set for stitch length purposes. So too, the parallel positioning of the raise cams facilitates the provision of a fourth needle position that is uninfluenced by and independent of cam settings for accommodating knit, tuck and welt needle positioning. These features, singularly and together, as

embodied in apparatus according to the following description constitute the bases for the invention.

A principal object of the invention is to provide improved cylinder and dial knitting machine apparatus.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cylinder and dial knitting machine wherein the timing thereof is unaffected by adjustment of the stitch cams of the machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide a cylinder and dial knitting machine wherein not only are knit, tuck and welt needle positions selectable, but so too the cylinder and dial needles may be adjusted for their hook-tohook passing irrespective of whether the needles are adjusted for knitting, tucking and welting.

The invention will be described with reference to the figures wherein FIGS. 1 and 2a, 2b are diagrams useful in describing concepts embodied in apparatus according to the invention,

FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating cylinder and dial cam sections according to the invention,

FIG. 4 is a perspective view, partially cutaway, of the rear face of a cylinder section embodying the invention, and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view, partially cutaway, illustrating the front face of the section of FIG. 4.

Before describing actual apparatus embodying the invention, it is thought best for sake of clarity to describe, by way of the schematic diagrams of FIGS. 1, and 2a, 2b the concepts which are embodied in such apparatus.

Turning then to FIG. 1, the needle wave for the cylinder needles of a cylinder and dial knitting machine is indicated by the letter C, and the needle wave for the dial needles is indicated by the letter D. As is apparent in the arrangement indicated, the timing of such knitting machine is such that the dial needles get actuated to take yarn prior to actuation of the cylinder needles; and further such dial needles set stitches prior to the setting of stitches by the cylinder needles. In other words, the dial needles pull through the cloth being knit when at their positions X; and the cylinder needles pull through the cloth when at their positions Y, the positions X and Y being Z needles apart in the direction of needle travel, which is in accordance with the abovenoted prior art preference whereby thin high quality cloth may be effected. To assure that the timing of the cylinder and dial needles remains constant irrespective of the setting of the cylinder and dial stitch cams for stitch length purposes etc., the present invention provides that both the cylinder and dial stitch cams be positionable parallel to their respective cam surfaces, as indicated by double headed arrows on FIG. 1, and in this way one set of needles will, of necessity, always set stitches Z needles later than the other set of needles, unless of course the timing of the machine in question is deliberately altered.

With reference now to FIGS. 2a, 2b, the concept behind a fourth needle position for cylinder and dial knitting machines will be described, with particular reference to the requirement therefor when machine gating is altered to effect the knitting of fine rib cloth as indicated above. Referring first to FIG. 2a, the needles A and B are gated to knit either interlock cloth, or coarse rib cloth. That is, for interlock cloth, the cylinder and dial needles A knit at a first yarn feed station, whereas the cylinder and dial needles B knit at a subsequent yarn feed station; for coarse rib knitting, the needles A, for example, knit at succsessive yarn feed stations. As can be readily appreciated from FIG. 2a, the dial needles are fully extended while the cylinder needles are in the process of being raised to take yarn, and in knitting interlock and coarse rib cloth, such relative needle positioning is virtually of no consequence. That is, the space between dial needles B, for example, is quite suflicient to accommodate easy passage therebetween of the cylinder needles B. Consider however what happens when the cylinder and dial needles 4 are gated, as indicated by FIG. 2b, to produce fine rib cloth, i.e. by knitting with dial needle B, cylinder needle A, dial needle A, cylinder needle B, etc. Were the cylinder needles here to pass the dial needles for yarn taking purposes as indicated by FIG. 2a, the probability of the cylinder needle points -P crashing into the shanks S of the dial needles would be substantial. To minimize the chance that the cylinder needles will collide with the dial needles, the present invention takes advantage of the fact that knitting needles are usually thinnest at their hooked points, and that were such needles to pass on a hook-to-hook basis, comparatively easy relative passage thereof would ensue. To effect a hook-to-hook passing of the cylinder and dial needles, the present invention permits of means whereby the whole bed of cylinder needles may be effectively shifted, as desired, so that such needles may follow a path as indicated by the broken lines of FIG. 2b. In this way, the cylinder and dial needles pass hook-to-hook and the danger of a collision therebetween is minimal.

Reference should now be had to FIG. 3 which shows a pair of cooperating cylinder and dial cam sections from an interlock knitting machine. The cylinder cam section 10 is provided with a pair of raise cams 12 and 14 which serve to define respective raceways for accommodating low and high butts, respectively 16 and 18, on cylinder needles 20. The raise cam 12 is provided with a flange portion 22 for better needle control, by preventing the needles from flying, and so too the raise cam 14 is provided with a flange portion 24 for the same purpose. The raise cam 12 is provided with an extended portion 26 which is adapted to be positioned along the length of a slot 28 in the section 10 by means of a pinion 30. And the raise cam 14 is similarly provided with an extended portion 32 that is positionable along the length of a slot 34 in the section 10 by means of a pinion 36. The slots 28 and 34 in the section 10 are cut parallel to the active surfaces 13 and 15 of the cams 12 and 14, and hence the needle raise angles are obliged to be constant, whether the earns (12 and 14) in question are set to knit, tuck, or welt levels. As shown th cam surfaces 13 and 15 which are generally in the plan of the needles rise acutely with respect to the direction of relative needle travel. Cooperating with the raise cams 12 and 14 is a common stitch cam 38 that is longitudinally positionable parallel to its surface 40, for stitch length purposes, as will be better appreciated later in reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. The stitch cam 38 is adapted to operate on the butts 42 of the needles 20.

An auxiliary raise cam 44 is adjustably positionable generally parallel to the surface 46 of the section 10 and within a cutout 47 of the section 10; and when the cam 44 is in the position shown in FIG. 3, the cam 44 has substantially no effect on the cylinder needles 20. When, however, the cam 44 is so positioned within its cutout 47 that its portion 48 abuts against the surface 50 of a block 52, the cam 44 actuates the needles 20 so that they pass hook-to-hook with respect to the dial needles 54. That is, when the cam 44 is positioned for a hook-to-hook needle passing, the surface 56 of the cam 44 operates on the butts 42 of the needles 20 to raise the needles 20 to a hook-to-hook level (see FIG. 2b where K, T, H, and W refer respectively to knit, tuck, hook-to-hook and welt needle levels) prior to the raising thereof by the raise cams 12 and 14 operating on the butts 16 and 18. A springloaded cover cam 60 having an inclined face 62 is mounted on a button 64, such cover cam being adapted to provide continuous positive control of the needles 20, but being capable of being pushed out of the way (i.e. by depressing the button into the section 10) should a needle inadvertently stray into contact with the cover cam 60.

Like the cylinder cam section 10, a dial cam section 66 is provided with a pair of raceways defined respectively by means of raise cams 68 and 70. The raise cams 68 and 70 are provided with respective flange portions 72 and 74 which, as with the cylinder cam section 10, serve to provide excellent needle control. The cams 68 and 70 are positionable parallel to their respective surfaces 76 and 78 by means of extended portions thereof, respectively 80 and 82, which are positionable along the lengths of respective slots 84 and 86 in the dial section 66, such positioning of the cams 68 and 70 being by virtue of pinions (not shown) much in the manner in which the cylinder raise cams are positioned. The raise cam 68 is adapted to cooperate with a butt 88 of a needle 54; and the raise cam 70 is adapted to cooperate with a butt 90 of a needle 54. The surfaces 76 and 78 which are generally in the plane of the needles rise acutely with respect to the direction of relative needle travel.

A stitch cam 92 is positionable parallel to its surface 94 along the length of a cutout 96 in the dial section 66, and it is this feature in combination with the parallel positioning of the cylinder stitch cam 38 which provides the particular characteristic of the invention (viz timing of a cylinder and dial machine that is independent of and unrelated to machine stitch setting) illustrated in FIG. 1. The stitch cam 92 is adapted to actuate the needles 54 by operating on their butts 98, and to assure continuous needle control a spring-loaded cover cam 100 is embodied in the dial section 66 as in the cylinder section 10. An auxiliary cam, like the cam 44 of the cylinder section 10, is not employed with the cam section 66 since hook-tohook needle passing may be accomplished solely by means of the cam 44 of the cylinder section However, it is to be realized that the function of the cam 44 may just as easily have been transferred to and practiced with a similar such cam in the cam section 66, rather than in the section 10, or with an auxiliary cam in both section 10 and in section 66, with each such auxiliary cam contributing part of the needle motion needed for hook-tohook needle passing.

As shown the needles 20 and 54 are in their welt positions and are traveling relative to their respectiv sections 10 and 66 in directions indicated by arrows on FIG. 3.

Since the cylinder cam section 10 is in essence of the same construction as the dial section 66, having just an added cam 44 thereon, it alone is shown in substantial detail as in FIGS. 4 and 5.

The extended portion 26 of the raise cam 12 is provided with a rack 102 adapted to engage the teeth of the pinion 30, the pinion being supported for rotation in a hole 104 in the section block 10. Similarly, the extended portion 32 of the raise cam 14 is provided with a rack 106 adapted to engage the teeth of the pinion 36. The pinions 30 and 36 are each provided with screw heads, e.g. the screw head 108, and are capped by means 110, suitably indexed for knit, tuck and welt needle positioning. The pinion caps 110 are held to their respective pinions 30, 36 by set screws, and are rotatable within respective recesses (e.-g. 112) within the section block 10. A lock screw 114 resides in the block 10 and serves to cooperate with the extended portion 32 of the raise cam 14 to hold same in place once the pinion 36 has been properly set for the desired position of the raise cam 14. Similarly a lock screw is adapted to reside in the hole 116 of the cam block 10 for cooperation with the extended portion 26 of the raise cam 12. The stitch cam 38 is, like the raise cams 12 and 14, provided with an extended portion 118 that resides in a cutout 120 in the section 10, such section 10 being further provided with a side recess 122 into which a spring 124 is housed. The spring 124 so mounts a pin 126 that crosses the recess 122 that a bent end 128 thereof may push against the extended portion 118 of the stitch cam 38 to urge such stitch cam upwardly. To keep the stitch cam 38 in its proper place against the tension of the spring 124, an adjustment screw 130 with an enlarged head mounts atop the section 10; and to keep the stitch cam 38 in place against the section 10, a screw 132 is provided, the screw 132 being positionable laterally of an oblong through hole 134 by virtue of a positionable lock washer 136.

Holding the auxiliary raise cam 44 in place as shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 is a screw 138 having an enlarged head that is positionable within an oblong recess in the front face of the section 10. To set the cam 44 for a hook-tohook needle passing, the screw 138 is loosened and its head positioned near the top of the recess 140, at which time the elements 48 and 52 will abut.

As can be appreciated from FIG. 3, i.e. with the cam 44 of the cam section 10 not set for a hook-to-hook needle passing, the needles 20 and 54 will pass much in the manner indicated by FIG. 2a, with the butts 42 of the needle 20 being virtually unaffected by the cam 44 (passing through the slot 142 thereof), and the needles 20 and 54 being all raised to respective knit, tuck or welt positions depending on the settings .of the raise cams 12, 14, 68, 70. Since, as indicated by FIG. 1, th stitch earns 38 and 92 are both adjustably positionable parallel to their respective surfaces 40 and 94, the relative timing of the stitch settings effected by the cylinder and dial needles is not influenced by the relative adjustments of stitch cams 38 and 92. Were the auxiliary cam 44 set for hook-to-hook needle passing, i.e. with its part 48 abutting the element 50, the situation as indicated by FIG. 2b would obtain. Here the butts 42 of the needles 20 would encounter the cam surrface 56 prior to their butts 16 and 18 encountering the raise cams 12 and 14, and attendantly the needles 20 would be raised to hook-to-hook level. Should the cams 12 and 14 be set for knit or tuck, their respective surfaces 13 and 15 will then cooperate to effect these needle levels; if however the raise cams 12 and 14 are set to welt, then the needles will be raised no higher, being thereafter returned to their fully withdrawn levels by the stitch cam 38. At any rate, should the needles 20 and 54 pass, such passing here will, of necessity, be on a hook-to-hook basis.

While the invention has been described in its preferred from it is to be understood that the words which have been used are words of description rather than of limitation, and that changes within the purview of the appended claims may be made without departing from the true scope and spirit of the invention.

Having thus set forth the nature of this invention, what is claimed herein is:

1. In a cylinder and dial independent needle knitting machine having first and second pluralities of cam sec tions for operating respectively on the cylinder and dial needles of said machine, each section of said first plurality having raise and stitch cams, and each section of said second plurality having raise and stitch cams, the improvements (A) wherein the stitch cams of the sections of said first plurality and of said second plurality are adapted for adjustment in directions substantially parallel to their respective cam surfaces and (B) wherein adjustable auxiliary raise cam means, in-

cluding adjustment means therefor, are provided for cooperation with the raise cams of at least one plurality of sections, said auxiliary raise cam means being adaptable to precede their respective raise cams in the direction of relative needle travel and being further adapted to raise the needles with which they cooperate so that said cylinder and dial needles will pass hook-to-hook depending on the setting of said adjustment means.

2. In a cylinder and dial independent needle knitting machine having first and second pluralities of cam sections for operating respectively on the cylinder and dial needles of said machine, each section of said first plurality having raise and stitch cams, and each section of said second plurality having raise and stitch cams, the improvement wherein adjustable auxiliary raise cam means, includ ing adjustment means therefor, are provided for cooperation with the raise earns of at least one plurality of. sections, said auxiliary raise cam means being adaptable to precede their respective raise cams in the direction of relative needle travel and being further adapted to raise the needles with which they cooperate so that said cylinder and dial needles will pass hook-to-hook depending on the setting of said adjustment means.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 wherein there are respective auxiliary raise cam means for each of said cylinder sections, wherein each of said adjustment means is adapted for positioning its auxiliary cam means either at a setting thereof which substantially has no effect on the elevation of the needles with which it coacts or at a setting thereof which so raises the needles that at least some of the needles of said cylinder and dial are disposed to cross each other on a hook-to-hook basis.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 wherein said cylinder cam sections are provided with respective means that slant generally in the plane of said cylinder needles and rise acutely with respect to the direction of relative needle travel, wherein said apparatus includes means for relatively positioning said cylinder raise cams along their respective slant means, wherein said dial cam sections are provided with respective means that slant generally in the plane of said dial needles and rise acutely with respect to the direction of relative needle'travel, and wherein said apparatus further includes means for rela- References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 450,291 4/1891 Hinchlitfe. 653,562 7/1900 Scott et al 66 54 XR 868,276 10/1907 Klemm 66-27 XR 1,094,482 4/1914 Scott.

1,257,492 2/1918 Klemm 66-25 2,775,107 12/1956 Shortland 66 27 3,335,582 8/1967 Mishcon 66-54 XR 20 3,387,466 6/1968 Beckenstein 66 38 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,122,003 5/1956 France.

408,889 4/1934 Great Britain.

WILLIAM CARTER REYNOLDS, Primary Examiner us. 01. X.R. 

